[Pen/Pencil Review] Rhodia Exaclair Pencil
We do venture out every so often – fully masked and safe – to help support some of our smaller businesses. This past weekend we went up to McKinney and hit our favorite places on the Square. One of which is Graphite Pen + Paper. While there, besides the Blackwings from last week, I also picked up a Rhodia Exaclair wooden pencil.
Rhodia is a great brand, and I have mostly used their paper products, this was a first to use one of their pencils. These come pre-sharpened at nearly 7.5†long. They are triangular orange and black linden wood. The Rhodia logo is on each face of the triangle. The pencil cap is black as is the eraser. The pencil is made of linden wood which is a nice hard feel to it.
The triangular body is comfortable but takes some getting used to when most pencils are hexagonal or round. The faces are rounded at the corners for comfort. The wood is dyed black and then lacquered orange, which is quite dramatic. It allows the lead to flow into the wood almost invisibly. The triangular body makes it a little difficult to sharpen in a manual sharpener, but it does fit into a normal sharpener.
The Numbers
1. How does it work? – 1 – I like this pencils. It’s a good, solid wood. When I fidget with it, I have no worries that I’m going to snap them in half or bend them out of shape, like with really cheap pencils. It’s a dark but probably #2.
2. Grip and feel – 1 – It’s a unique triangle body that makes it both weird at first but comfortable to hole.
3. Material – 1 – One of the best built pencils I’ve had in a while. Solid wood, nice accents. The eraser mechanism is well-built and solidly attached.
4. Overall Design – 1 – I don’t know what else to say about this pencil’s design. It just rocks – for me.
5. Price Point – 0 – It’s an expensive wooden pencil. They only come in individually wrapped single pencils for $3.00 – which is a lot for a consumable pencil. But it’s still super cool.
I give it 4 of 5 bronze pencils.
